Guardian Intelligence: Sept. 10 – 16, 2014

COPS EVICTED

In the wake of Urban Shield — the police training and trade show staged in Oakland last week, attracting attendees from 200 law-enforcement agencies — Mayor Jean Quan announced that it wouldn’t be welcome in Oakland again. To exactly nobody’s surprise, the event, timed on the heels of Ferguson in a city where cops are probably less popular than anywhere else on West Coast, drew protests. The police gear fest, which costs $1 million in federal funding, was started by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

OILY CARGO

On Sept. 4, environmental activists got up at the crack of dawn to sneak onto a railyard and stage a protest in Richmond. Using U-locks, they chained themselves to a fence where Kinder Morgan operates a shipping facility, where crude oil from North Dakota tar sands is unloaded from trains and sent to area refineries. The enviros said the trains are old and dangerous. But a lawsuit challenging the facility’s operating permit, issued by the air district without any environmental review, was thrown out in court the next day.

AHOY!

Multiple music stages (including a few that float) bring sea chanties, Irish ballads, folk songs about navy battles, and other shipshape styles to the shore at the annual Sea Music Festival, held Sat/13 on the Hyde Street Pier and aboard the historic vessels docked there. The festival also showcases Tahitian and Chinese traditional dancing, living-history performers (including a Victorian-style tea party, and model shipwrights). And yes, there will be sing-alongs, so make sure your “Spanish Ladies” is on point.

NO FREE LUNCH

We’ve heard about the “Twitter ten” — how free gourmet lunch offered by the tech employer can leave its workers with a bit of a paunch. But now that the Internal Revenue Service is taking a closer look at tax-exempt free lunch offered by the likes of Twitter and Google, as the Wall Street Journal reported, there may yet be a pound or two to pay for that perk.

When the (non-Mexican) owners of Castro gay sports bar Hi Tops announced that they would be opening an upscale Mexican restaurant cross the street called Bandidos, many hackles were raised on those who know “bandido” has been used as a slur against Mexican people in the US. When the menu was unveiled — with items like $9 guacamole — familiar grumbling about high prices and gentrification took over. But the torta really hit the fan when chef Jamie Lauren was quoted on SFGate, saying, “I hate to call it white people Mexican food but it is. And I think the Castro needs a place like that.” Community rage and threats of a boycott ensued. The owners have agreed to meet with Latino and gay community representatives like comedian Marga Gomez to consider a name change and better outreach.

ROOM TO WRITE Kids at Mission High School will be getting a Writer’s Room, a beautifully designed space to inspire the process of writing, in partnership with the tutoring center 826 Valencia. As part of the project, ninth graders will produce a magazine about social justice issues, and San Franciscans can score a copy at the Pirate Supply Store at 826 Valencia.

EVICTION HALTED Benito Santiago, a 63-year-old San Francisco native, recently got word that he wouldn’t be evicted after all from his Duboce Ave. apartment, where he’s resided for 37 years. When he got the eviction notice last December, Santiago had no idea where else he could possibly live. “It was then that I realized, all that I could do, was fight back to stay in my home,” he said. “This is my life.” He got help from Eviction Free San Francisco, housing activists who staged marches, rallies, and even a real-estate office occupation to keep him housed.